Car sales here in Japan follow the typical Japanese retail model – customer service is key. Example – if it’s too bothersome to head down to the ‘ole dealership, a sales person will gladly drop by your home with the model of your choice and let you take a test drive. Similarly, one of the sales persons from our nearby neighborhood Toyota dealer will stop by occasionally and ring our door bell to introduce a new model and see if we are interested.

This past weekend we were out so he placed some sales literature in our mailbox – one of the brochures was for a new model – the “Tank”. Well, that intrigued me – was this a new colossal Land Cruiser? Maybe a Sequoia on steroids? What massive, bloated, behemoth was Toyota going to offer now…

After 30 years on and off here in Japan, you’d think I’d know better than to assume a vehicle’s name somehow corresponds to its function. Japan is famous for using idiosyncratic, off-beat, and quirky English names for its domestic models.

The Tank is anything but tank-like – it’s a modestly larger and up-engined version of the Daihatsu “Tanto”; a kei-jidosha or minicar. Kei car dimensions are limited to 3.4 meters in length, 1.46 meters in width and 2 meters in height – with engines having a max size of 660 cc. The Tank is 3.7 meters (146″) long, 1.67 meters66′) wide, and 1.73 meters (68″) high, with a bored out 1000 cc version of the kei-class engine.with a 996cc 1KR-FE engine, which has three cylinders and makes 71hp. As is clear from the image above, seating and interior room in these little boxes is very generous, comparable to a big American double cab pickup, except in width. There’s simply nothing that can beat these for space efficiency.

So is the Tank essentially an update on the original Scion xB/Toyota bB? The dimensions are quite similar, as the xB/bB some 9″longer, the same width, and 3″ less tall. That’s really quite close. Paul might like this as a replacement for his xB, should he ever need it. (Update: this, and the virtual identical Toyota Roomy and Daihatsu Thor, is the successor to the bB).

It’s certainly not a vehicle with a footprint any native English-speaking person would associate with the term “Tank”.

Perhaps Toyota’s naming committee missed this pic before signing-off on the final model name…

Its sister Daihatsu model is named “Thor” – another one that leaves me scratching my head…

37 Comments

That’s an…intriguing looking vehicle, certainly. Perhaps they were going for “FISH Tank” and simply ran out of room for letters. I might call it the “Pug” or something, myself, but it certainly does maximize cabin space, that’s for sure.

I may be wrong, but wasn’t it Bill Mitchell who said something to the effect, that he did not know what cars would look like in the future – but they would be more than mere boxes on wheels! Dear God!

Do the people who design cars today call themselves “Stylist”?

I mean, why do they intentionally design a car to be as ugly as they possibly can?
Some say, it is to be “in your face”.
Well, it is like over looking a beautiful women for Rosie O’ Donnell because she is “in your face” – but let me tell you, I can’t see for the life of me why Rosie would be preferable to a beautiful woman. I know, ask me how I really feel about today’s car designs.

The first car I was aware of that labeled a 4 door as a coupe was the Rover V8 Saloon with chopped roof. I liked the looks of it and had one years from new. But I still think if they call it a coupe they shouldn’t be allowed to put door handles on the back doors. Some cars I thought were mis-named; The Austin, Vanden-Plas Princess Limousine. for a British car it was gigantic, and could have been the Austin Harland & Wolfe Titanic II Limousine. I had one done in smoke silver, and someone had altered a Rolls grille to fit the car, along with Rolls hubcaps on wide whites. Norm said to me, “If Rolls-Royce has a hit squad, you’re on the list with that thing.” I didn’t have to worry about many people seeing it as it refused to run most of the time.
The first time I drove a new ’70 Buick Skylark Stage 1 coupe, I thought it should have name script that said “Wretched Excess” to at least warn new drivers about it.
I drove one of the Subaru mini-mini vans about a third the size of a VW bus. the owner, in the passenger seat, reached down and opened the front vent, which was nearly as wide as the van, and 8 inches high. I never felt so vulnerable, I was looking at the pavement directly in front of the van, no screen, just air and pavement, felt almost like a motorcycle with steering wheel.
I also had a Humber Super Snipe at one time, did they have a Standard Snipe? An Ordinary Snipe? And what’s a Snipe?
I always enjoyed the Cadillac Fleetwoods run through car washes that the “d” broke off of. There were a lot of Cadillac Fleetwoo’s in this area.
The cars that had Custom and DeLuxe in their lines, I never could remember which was higher line.

A tall short hatchback on roller skate wheels with Toyota’s latest mutant face styling language. I’m not sure that there is a vehicle that could be less appealing to me. I’ll give it props for greenhouse though, especially if those small windows between the windshield and door glass are openable vent windows though(if not I’m deducting points)

As for Tank, I like the name, at least it conjures up an image in my head of something that is cool, unlike arbitrary acronyms, or made up and purposely misspelled words. It’s not like all those stripper Bel Air models conjured up images of sunny rich California, but at it was at least a real name. Besides, in these times of various fluidity, I’m not going to judge this car for being a tank in an econobox body 😉

I can’t fully explain my powerful draw to cars like this, but obviously I’m something of a minimalist. These Japanese micro-vans have a huge amount of interior space, are the easiest cars to get in and out of, because they’re tall but the floor is not high, and make super city-mobiles. These are all qualities that are important to me.

There’s a reason that the kei version of these have become the most popular cars in Japan, as they are just so highly rational in terms of providing utility, efficiency and economy. And they can be quite fun to drive, to boot.

I don’t know what I’d replace my xB with if something happened to it, other than finding another used one. But if something like this were available…

I think Toyota might be surprised at how much interest ether would be for something like this in the US. They certainly grossly underestimated the success of the gen1 xB.

Ownership of a first generation Scion xB is usually all the more convincing someone needs to the idea that there are desirable alternatives to a Bill Mitchell glamor mobile.

While I’m happy as hell with the Fiat 500c Abarth that replaced my xB, I’d definitely be interested in something like this should Toyota bring it over. And I’d think there’d be some way to rationalize the limited-sale model like this. Do we all have to drive what everybody drives?

I usually referred to these shaped vehicles as “Toasters” because of their shape. But I do like toast. I loved the “real” BMC Mini’s I had and the Chevy Sprint about the same size. First time I drove it, I thought there was a decorative “Turbo” light on the dash. It was pointed out it only lit when the turbo was engaged, it never went off on the test drive.

I guess ‘Tank’ is no worse than ‘Yaris’ or ‘Prius’. I would be interested if Toyota started selling those here in the USA – if the price was right. I’d be driving an xB except that I didn’t like the 2nd gens changes.

I love the proportions and I love the practicality – I think this is a car tht would really endear itself, so long as you weren’t doing lots of highway miles. Just watched their promo video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd2ax7bFXIw (turn your sound down…) and it just looks like a super-easy car to live with.

Here in NZ we’ll be seeing these as used imports soon enough – I’ll keep my eyes open for one!

Hustler was the poormans Hillman Hunter GT produced in Australia decades ago, Japanese manufacturers have no problem recycling other car makers model names I followed a Toyota Isis in traffic a few days ago a badge used by Morris in times gone by I even owned a 55 model Morris Isis.

This actually is the successor to the bB in Japan, as well as the Ractis (Yaris Verso in Europe). There is a sister model called Roomy, and it’s also sold as the Subaru Justy. It’s really a Daihatsu Boon underneath. A car I would very much be interested in here stateside, although I would prefer the next step up Sienta myself; it’s design is inspired by a running shoe:

Type 89 “I-go.” Hey Toyota, that’s a great name! Claim to fame: the first mass-produced Diesel tank. Used at the Battle of Khalkhin Gol, where the Japanese got creamed by the Soviets in a combined-arms engagement little known in the West at the time. This defeat changed Japanese ambitions towards the Pacific instead of Asia.

Japanese tank designs were pretty good by ’30s standards, but fell behind during the War.

I drove a stick shift Xb for years. Bought it new within days of availability. Easiest car to enter/exit I ever encountered. Legroom in back seat was better than any car I can think of that was made since, say the mid/late 1960s. The upright windshield allowed for higher and forward seats front and back. This car (Tank) looks smaller and back seat passenger is sitting in what would be the already small Xb rear cargo area, but the car, made a bit larger, would have me at the dealer with my checkbook.

I don’t know where you’re from, but the reality for many people in the world is one of densely populated urban centers ,choking traffic congestion ,limited parking, high road taxes and even higher fuel prices. In Japan the home market, these cars are a common sight for the above reasons and more. What non-urban driving there is is usually on windy, 2 lane mountain roads where the average speed is way less than 70 km/h. People mainly use these to go to the supermarket, as travel any further can be more easily accomplished on the excellent high-speed rail networks. I see this car as ideally suited for it’s intended market, and as such looks fine to me. Don’t forget, the smaller something is, the harder it is to style. That’s why Kei cars tend to look alike. I was given a Kia Ray (only Kei class car in Korea)as a loaner for an afternoon once, and while not by bag, was perfectly agreeable for tooting around my semi-rural digs.

I find all of the kei-class cars a bit ungainly. I understand the mission, but to my North American eyes, it is a bit more than odd. FWIW, if I wanted quirky in North America, I’d go Italian. Well, Serbian, actually…